Looking for a new phon cartridge

Yes, retipping a Koetsu may be a challenge. Luckily, my Rosewood SigPlat and Coralstone D have very low hours.

I have a 14 year old Urushi.  Last year I had it re-tipped by Expert Stylus in the UK. I had them replace only the stylus tip, not the cantilever.  They were very professional. The whole transaction start to finish took less than 3 weeks, round trip to the East coast US. The cost was reasonable. One always has to question one's aural memory, but to me the Urushi now sounds better than ever and certainly better than it did prior to re-tipping. I can highly recommend their services, and I would not hesitate to own another Koetsu that needed similar attention. So in my opinion, there is no need to fear owning a Koetsu now that there is no factory.

I've had a fair number of high end cartridges from the likes of Lyra and Airtight- usually their top models. The Koetsus- particularly the stone bodies- a Jade and Tiger Eye- really made a qualitative difference in the dimensionality and tone of the bass---something that was unexpected, given the older mythology of the Rosewood that was first brought into the States as a offering a "technicolor" midrange and little else. I think you do benefit from tonearm mass on these cartridges. I'm not daunted by the fact that the company is gone- Expert has a good reputation as does Ana Mighty in France. These cartridges play extremely well on my Airline arm which has considerable horizontal mass. @Lewm- I assume Expert preserved the factory cantilever and only replaced the stylus with appropriate adjustments. 

I will add Dynavector to your list, either XX2 or Rua.

koetsu should be great too, love my rosewood sig .